Costco Sees Strong October Same-Store Sales

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) this morning reported a better-than-expected rise in October same-store sales, due in part to higher gasoline prices and a weak dollar.

The company said its net sales in October increased 9% year-over-year to $7.67 billion.

Same-store sales, or those sales at locations open for more than a year, in October came to 7% for the United States and 9% internationally. Analysts had expected a rise of 6.6% domestically. Excluding inflation in fuel prices and strength of foreign currencies, same-store sales were 5% both domestically and internationally.

In a prerecorded conference call, Costco’s director of finance and investor relations, David Sherwood, said several Costco warehouses has closed due to power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy. “None of the warehouses suffered extensive damages,” he said. These closures are expected to have a marginal impact on November sales.

Costco shares are inactive in premarket trading, after closing last night at $98.43, in a 52-week range of $78.81 to $104.43. The mean price target before this news was $102.64.